Opinion: North Korean power politics get more ruthless

By Bruce Klingner, Special to CNN

Updated 9:38 AM ET, Sun December 15, 2013

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor'9 photos

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor' – In an image taken from footage shown by North Korea's KCTV and released by South Korea's Yonhap news agency on December 9, 2013, Jang Song-Thaek is reportedly being dragged away from his chair by two police officials during a meeting in Pyongyang. North Korea confirmed on December 9 that the powerful uncle of Kim Jong-Un, the nation's leader, had been removed. New reports from North Korea say that Jang has been executed.

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Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor'9 photos

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor' – Japanese lawmaker Antonio Inoki, left, Jang Song Thaek and Kenshiro Matsunami, a former Japanese lawmaker, hold a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, on November 6. Jang Song Thaek was regarded as the second most powerful figure in North Korea.

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Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor'9 photos

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor' – Kim Jong Un, left, and Jang Song Thaek walk through a cemetery for Korean War veterans on July 25 in Pyongyang, North Korea, marking the 60th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended hostilities on the Korean peninsula.

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Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor'9 photos

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor' – Chinese President Hu Jintao, right, greets Jang in Beijing on August 17, 2012. Jang met China's President and Premier in an effort to improve the relations between the two countries after Kim Jong Un irked Beijing with a rocket launch soon after taking power.

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Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor'9 photos

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor' – Kim Jong Un walks past his uncle after reviewing a parade of thousands of soldiers commemorating the 70th birthday of the late Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on February 16, 2012.

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Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor'9 photos

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor' – Jang attends a meeting on developing the economic zones in North Korea, in Beijing, on August 14, 2012.

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Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor'9 photos

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor' – Jang follows Kim Jong Un during the funeral procession for Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang on December 28, 2011.

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Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor'9 photos

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor' – Jang is seen with Kim Jong Il, right, and Naguib Sawiris, center, the executive chairman of Cairo-based Orascom Telecom, at an undisclosed place in North Korea on January 23, 2011.

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Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor'9 photos

Jang Song Thaek: From adviser to 'traitor' – Jang, far right, appeared with Kim Jong Il and other officials during an inspection of the Mt. Ryongak Recreation Ground in Pyongyang, in an image released on January 18, 2009, by the official Korean Central News Agency.

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Story highlights

Jang Sung-taek was vice chairman of the top military body and married to Kim's aunt

North Korea state media say Jang was convicted of treason and executed

Jang was arrested at a special meeting of the leadership and a lengthy list of crimes published

Klingner: Likely the accusation of treason was to undermine Jang's reputation

Pyongyang announced on December 12 the trial and execution of Jang Sung-taek, former vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission and uncle to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Although Kim has already purged hundreds of officials during his two year reign, Jang's ouster is highly unusual, even by North Korean standards.

Jang is married to the sister of the late leader Kim Jong-il and it had been expected he would be safe from a purge until after her death. In the past, when members of the North Korean senior leadership strata were purged, they usually simply stopped appearing in North Korean media. Instead, the BBC and other media reports showed that Jang was first erased from existing official photos and videos in tactics reminiscent of the Stalin-era Soviet Union.

Jang was arrested during a special meeting of the leadership with the photos and lengthy list of his crimes promulgated to the North Korean public. That Jang was executed was also rare for someone in the inner circle of power.

Bruce Klingner

While Kim is emulating the power politics of his father and grandfather, he has taken it to new levels of brutality. In addition to Jang -- previously referred to as the "second most powerful man in North Korea," Kim replaced both the minister of defense and chairman of the general staff. Clearly, no one is safe from Kim's wrath.

According to South Korean media reports, Kim Chol, the vice minister of the army, was executed last year per Kim's dictate to leave "no trace of him, not even his hair," though it is not clear exactly how he was killed. Some reports suggest he was executed with a mortar round during the official mourning period after Kim Jong-il's death.

Jang -- the "despicable human scum who was worse than a dog" -- was accused of plotting a coup to "overthrow the state [and] to grab the supreme power of our party and state." Perhaps. But had Jang wanted to grab the ring of power he would have had more success immediately after Kim's father's death in December 2011, before his son acquired the six titles conferring power over the state, party, and military.

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It is more likely that the accusation of treason -- as well as the litany of his personal foibles of gambling, drugs, womanizing, pornography, and drinking -- were to undermine Jang's reputation and justify the execution.

The young Kim also used the purge to make Jang the scapegoat for North Korea's economic problems. Jang was described as controlling all major economic fields of the country and accused of scheming "to drive the economy of the country and people's living into an uncontrollable catastrophe." Jang was then able to be blamed for the disastrous currency revaluation of 2009, poor construction in Pyongyang, selling off of the Rason economic zone and precious resources at low prices, and creating "a great confusion in financial management system of the state."

So much for the political and economic reform that some experts predicted Kim would implement, as they had similarly predicted about his father. Jang's accusation emphasized the "the unitary leadership (and) absolute authority" of Kim Jong Un." The military court derided Jang's "despicable true colors as (economic) reformist known to the outside world." Jang's "cunning and sinister means" were compared with the "strategic patience policy and waiting strategy of the U.S. and the south Korean puppet group of traitors."

If there was any lingering naive doubt that Kim would be just as merciless as his father and grandfather, it died along with Jang. During his two years in power, he has escalated the subjugation of the populace. He has increased public executions, expanded the gulags for political prisoners, and increased government punishment for people caught with information from the outside world.

Earlier this year, Kim showed that he is willing to go even higher than his father in raising tension on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang threatened U.S. military bases in the wider region with nuclear attacks. He also warned of tactical attacks on South Korean targets. He defied U.N. Security Council resolutions by conducting nuclear and long-range missile launches and was credited by the official North Korean media as being the mastermind behind Pyongyang's two deadly attacks on South Korea in 2010.

The United States should have no illusions about Kim. His government vows it will never abandon its nuclear weapons and Pyongyang continues to augment and refine its nuclear and missile arsenals. South Korea's minister of defense believes Pyongyang's missiles can already reach the continental United States. The North Korean threat -- always high -- has gotten worse under the young leader.